Hi guys,I have an ASUS laptop.I am looking at getting an external harddrive to store photos, music and some doc's.I don't want to spend mega bucks on one, but want somehting decent.Also something I can buy online - I hate shopping in the tech stores - they always seem to con me into buying something completely different!

Size - depends on your needs and if you aren't sure, its makes sense to larger. Also, the most common size drives determine the best bang for buck. A quick look at PriceSpy shows that AC powered 2TB drives and usb powered 1TB drive give you the lowest $ per GB.

AC vs USB power - depends on whether you plan on moving the drive and whether you'll always have AC available.

As far as brands, I personally think they're a much of a muchness. Just compare warranty periods and that they're USB 3.0.

The only model I won't buy or recommend are the WD Elements range as they have the micro USB connector soldiered directly to the drive PCB which makes it very difficult to recover data if you have to.

Also, even having an external drive isnt always going to be a 100% safe backup of your laptop data.

Still have another backup somewhere - Im currently copying all my personal data to a cloud service - so Ill have 3 copies of my data - one "live", one external backup (backup manually every so often) and one cloud backup (taken from the "live" source).

I lost 500GB of data before Xmas from an ext drive that failed... thankfully i managed to get the other 300GB off (inc family photos) before the whole thing gave up...

USB Power - God yes, especially if it is a laptop, which means 2.5 inch drivesUSB 3.0 - definitely required (even if your laptop doesn't have it)Brand - reasonably similar, but check the build and some reviews before buying (just go to pbtech and have a look). I have a Western Digital one which has the Micro USB port loose in the case (or held on by solder). Suffice to say there are tons of people complaining about it falling off. But then my other WD one is awesome.

I've got a low cost network drive hidden somewhere in my house, works fine over WiFi (from router) to my laptop and no cables to worry about. I can also set it up to get remote access, but not yet needed. Mine is a W&D Live 1TB, but I would recommend you go for a proper NAS if you can even remotely afford it (pun intended).